Hello one and all! My name is Kayla but most folks round these parts call me JustKay. I'm a former staff member of GaymerX and have helped plan, set up, and run GXdev, GX3 and GX4. As a doer rather then a talker I decided to create an itch.io account to both keep myself accountable to finishing the games I start creating and to run a monthly Rainbow Jam. If you have any questions please feel free to ask and follow me on Twitter for tons of fun updates and secrets! I promise I don't bite without consent <3
Interested? Check out the current Rainbow Jam! August Rainbow Jam
&
the next Rainbow Jam Mini Challenge! TBD
(PS the image shown above is from an amazing Queer Superhero Team comic called 'The Pride' by Joe Glass)
On Going Personal Projects
What are Rainbow Jams?
Well that's a fair questions. Rainbow Jams are my answer to being annoyed at not hearing Queer and minority stories. Its my answer to wanting to see more games created by those same people. We do exist out there even if people whisper about our mythical and magical unicorn powers. And I'd like to see more of us reflected in games, and as game creators. So from now on I will be hosting a Rainbow Jam a month to help fuel that avalanche of creation of games that better reflect our community. Its time for some games #ByUs4Us !
Rules of Rainbow Jam
1) your game must focus on Queer and/or minorities OR the experiences of those groups and 2) all games submitted have to be created during the current Rainbow Jam. You can do prep work leading up to it, in fact I encourage it. Prep away! HOWEVER you may not start work on the actual design or the game itself until the jam starts.
You don't have to finish the game to submit it. Unfinished works or demos are allowed, encouraged, and accepted! Completing the work for the jam isn't a requirement just creating one is.
What are Rainbow Jam Mini Challenges?
As a growing community RJ Mini Challenges were created in order to supplement the need for a more condense, more challenging burst of creativity in between normal Rainbow Jams. These mini challenges can range all over the place from the ridiculous, absurd, laughable, brain teasing, face melting and more. They are meant as a way to challenge ourselves to coming up with a game that answers the call of bringing diversity into the realm of games given a difficult set of parameters in the time it takes to binge watch a show on Netflix (ie a weekend). These creations are then opened up to the public for ranking and we see who gets to claim the title of RJ Mini Challenge Champion, however temporary that may be. The basic rules for these challenges are the same as a normal Rainbow Jam with additional stipulations added as required.
PS - Don't forget to join us on our fabulous Rainbow Jam discord server for some good old community building and fun times. I'll be looking for admins and working on revitalizing that as well as I can. Or grab the Rainbow Jam Google Calendar to keep up with all the jamming happening!